From the moment the curtain opens on "Happy in the Poorhouse," you can see there are going to be clashes in a number of places. Paulie seems like a loser from the get-go. But everything that you imagine is going in is about to be set on its cauliflower ear.

Derek Ahonen, the Amoralists' resident playwright, has crafted and directed a work that is troubling and lingers with you long after you've left 80 St. Mark's. The rhythm of the language is modern-day "All In The Family," and not unlike what you would expect to hear in a blue-collar, or undershirt-ed, family. It's Coney Island, folks, and believe me, you are on one heckuva ride.

James Kautz is the scrappy Paulie "The Pug" and when the curtain opens, his wife Mary (Sarah Lemp) is preparing their home for the return of their best friend, and her ex-husband, Petie. They have all grown up together and Paulie and Petie are former wingmen. Paulie has loved Mary since they were a couple of kids, but they have yet to consummate their marriage, as Paulie can't get Mary's child-self out of his mind. Mary's brother Joey (Matthew Pilieci) is deliciously slimy as the mailman, MAIL! Man, or is it Male-Man? Under any circumstance, he's grabbing the world by the -um-horns and making the most of his current existence.

Paulie's sister, who has moved to Nashville to be a country western singer, is moving home. Penny (Rochelle Mikulich) is Joey's childhood crush and they all listen to her on Internet radio. And the sweet airy Penny is bringing home her "significant other." Prick up your ears-it's Surprise Number One! Penny's paramour is Olga, played with chew-nails-shpit-tacks over-the-top joy by Selene Beretta. Each of these characters, you should know, is limned comic-book-style. They are three-dimensional people in two-dimensional roles. Each is emoting and acting and very little connected to one another-which I believe is Ahonen's point. We're all in our own worlds and, when they collide, we actually stop and look at one another.

Surprises Two, Three and Four come in the form of Flossie (Meghan Ritchie) and her uncles Sonny (Morton Matthews) and Sally (Mark Riccadonna). She's a bundle of delight, filling up and spilling over, whom Joey believes has just become legal so he dallies with her on his route-or root-or, you get my drift. Flossie has told her uncles an untruth and they confront Joey to defend her questionable honor.

Then the guest of honor, Petie "The Pit" (William Apps), returning from war, looking like Tom Cruise in "Born on the Fourth of July," with his gay nurse Stevie (Nick Lawson), ramps up and camps up the energy even further. The stage is full without seeming crowded, but the angst, personality clashes, egos and misunderstandings add pepper to the stew.

If you doubt that we are all connected in some way, you won't after you meet Plot Device, um, I mean Larry "the Lab," played by Patrick McDaniel. He's the most odd combination of all-similar to the Frank Gorshin half-black, half-white character in the original "Star Trek"-who sweet talks his opponents, while he has them in a headlock. The fighting that he, Petie and Paulie were working to become professional doing, is mixed martial arts, and they all have a pugilistic way about them. Throw in a handful of in-jokes, for those who follow the Amoralists, and you'll still walk out with much to ponder.

The design and production team includes Alfred Shatz (set design and fight choreography), Jeremy Pape (lighting design), Ricky Lang (costume design), The Hernandez Brothers (sound design), Dan Lockhart (assistant director), and Judy Merrick (stage manager). Seeing the brick and mortar walls rising above the set, we get a sense of the real and unreal at the same time. I keep thinking about the show, and the deeper implications even days after the performance.

"Happy In The Poorhouse" runs through April 5, in a limited engagement on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Mondays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 5 p.m. Tickets are $40 for adults and $20 for students and can be purchased online at www.Theatre80.org or by calling 212/388-0388. Nearby trains are the R or W to Eighth Street, the 6 to Astor Place, the F and V to Second Avenue, or the L to First Avenue.